Modern body armor was developed which consisted principally of metal plates sewn together with ballistic nylon and was intended to protect against shrapnel and to slight extent, light weapon fire. The main disadvantage of this type of armor is that it is heavy and very bulky. Recent developments of high tensile-strength fibers have produced sheets of anti-ballistic panels by combining woven fabrics and cross-ply laminates.
Recent improvements to these anti-ballistic panels focus on the addition of more combined layers that result in the panels becoming quite thick and bulky. To reduce thickness, the anti-ballistic capabilities of a panel were improved by providing one or more metal plates in front of or in-between layers of fabric, which again produce armor that is heavy and very bulky. Other advances have been directed to making the improved panel more rigid by substantially coating each fiber with an elastomer in a manufacturing procedure that is both complex and costly.
Increasing the anti-ballistic integrity and capability of body armor by increasing the thickness or by coating individual fibers of the cloth is not a satisfactory approach to providing lightweight, flexible and effective ballistic articles. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure herein is presented.